SUPPORT is building quickly for an international military force
in southern Lebanon, but there remains a small problem: where will
the troops come from?

The US has ruled out its soldiers, NATO says it is
overstretched, Britain feels its troops are overcommitted and
Germany says it would participate only if Hezbollah agrees to it
 an unlikely development.

"All the politicians are saying 'great, great' to the idea of a
force, but no one is saying whose soldiers will be on the ground,"
a senior European official said. "Everyone will volunteer to be in
charge of the logistics in Cyprus."

There have also been private concerns that soldiers would be
seen as allied to Israel and would have to fight Hezbollah
guerillas who do not want foreigners coming between them and the
Israelis.

France, which has called the idea of a force premature, and the
US are haunted by their last participation in a multinational force
in Lebanon after the Israeli invasion in 1982, when they became
belligerents in a civil war. They withdrew after a Hezbollah
suicide bombing of a marines barracks in Beirut in 1983 which
killed 241 Americans and 58 French paratroopers.

Israel's public position on an international force has been
welcoming but sceptical, insisting that it be capable of military
missions, not just peacekeeping.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert suggested that the force, with
military capacity and fighting experience, could be made up of
soldiers from European and Arab states. Defence Minister Amir
Peretz spoke of soldiers from NATO countries.

But Israel senses no great willingness among leading European
countries to take part.

For the moment, at least, Israel is laying out an ambitious if
perhaps unrealistic view of what the force would do.

Israel wants it to keep Hezbollah away from the border, allow
the Lebanese Government and army to take control over all of its
territory, and monitor Lebanon's borders to ensure that Hezbollah
is not resupplied with weapons.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told senior British, German
and French officials on Sunday that Israel's goal was to disarm
Hezbollah and that the Israeli army or an international force would
have to do it, officials from the countries say.

By contrast, the Europeans envisage a much less robust buffer
force, to be set up after a ceasefire and to operate with the
consent of the Lebanese Government to support the deployment of its
army in southern Lebanon.

Such a situation would mean that Hezbollah, which is part of
Lebanon's Government, would be part of a decision that led to its
own disarming and the protection of Israel, which European
officials see as far-fetched.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he hoped a plan,
including an international force, mutual ceasefire and release of
the captured soldiers, could be negotiated within days.

"If someone's got a better plan, I'd like to hear it," he said.
"It's the only one I've got and I'm trying to make it happen."

But Britain has made clear in private diplomatic exchanges that
with thousands of its troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans,
it could not be counted on to send troops.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana is said to be
wary of a NATO-led force. "NATO is too identified with the United
States," a senior EU official said. "It would be Iraq all over
again."

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